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SENATE
BILL 6530
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AS
AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
Passed
Legislature - 2002 Regular Session
State of Washington 57th Legislature 2002
Regular Session
By
Read first time 01/21/2002.
Referred to Committee on Transportation.
Adjusting
the definition of salvage vehicles.
AN
ACT Relating to salvage vehicles; and amending RCW 46.12.005 and 46.12.070.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
46.12.005 and 1996 c 26 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
The
definitions set forth in this section apply throughout this chapter.
(1)
The words "delivery," "notice," "send," and
"security interest" have the same meaning as these terms are defined
in RCW 62A.1-201; the word "secured party" has the same meaning as
this term is defined in RCW ((62A.9‑105)) 62A.9A-102.
(2)
"Salvage vehicle" means a vehicle whose certificate of ownership has
been surrendered to the department under RCW 46.12.070 due to the vehicle's
destruction or declaration as a total loss or for which there is documentation
indicating that the vehicle has been declared salvage or has been damaged to
the extent that the owner, an insurer, or other person acting on behalf of the
owner, has determined that the cost of parts and labor plus the salvage value
has made it uneconomical to repair the vehicle. The term does not include a
motor vehicle having a model year designation of a calendar year that is at
least six years before the calendar year in which the vehicle was wrecked,
destroyed, or damaged, unless, after the effective date of this act and
immediately before the vehicle was wrecked, destroyed, or damaged, the vehicle
had a retail fair market value of at least the then market value threshold
amount and has a model year designation of a calendar year not more than twenty
years before the calendar year in which the vehicle was wrecked, destroyed, or
damaged. "Market value threshold amount" means six thousand five
hundred dollars or such greater amount as is then in effect by rule of the
department in accordance with this section. If, for any year beginning with
2002, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, compiled by the Bureau
of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor, or its successor, for
the West Region, in the expenditure category "used cars and trucks,"
shows an increase in the annual average for that year compared to that of the
year immediately prior, the department shall, by rule, increase the then market
value threshold amount by the same percentage as the percentage increase of the
annual average, with the increase of the market value threshold amount to be
effective on July 1st of the year immediately after the year with the increase
of the annual average. However, the market value threshold amount may not be
increased if the amount of the increase would be less than fifty dollars, and
each increase of the market value threshold amount will be rounded to the
nearest ten dollars. If an increase in the market value threshold amount is
not made because the increase would be less than fifty dollars, the unmade
increase will be carried forward and added to later year calculations of
increase until the unmade increase is included in an increase made to the
market value threshold amount.
Sec.
2. RCW
46.12.070 and 1990 c 250 s 28 are each amended to read as follows:
Upon
the destruction of any vehicle issued a certificate of ownership under this
chapter or a license registration under chapter 46.16 RCW, the registered owner
and the legal owner shall forthwith and within fifteen days thereafter forward
and surrender the certificate to the department, together with a statement of
the reason for the surrender and the date and place of destruction. Failure to
notify the department or the possession by any person of any such certificate
for a vehicle so destroyed, after fifteen days following its destruction, is
prima facie evidence of violation of the provisions of this chapter and
constitutes a gross misdemeanor.
Any
insurance company settling an insurance claim on a vehicle that has been issued
a certificate of ownership under this chapter or a certificate of license
registration under chapter 46.16 RCW as a total loss, less salvage value, shall
notify the department thereof within fifteen days after the settlement of the
claim. Notification shall be provided regardless of where or in what
jurisdiction the total loss occurred.
For a motor vehicle having a model year designation at least six
years before the calendar year of destruction, the notification to the
department must include a statement of whether the retail fair market value of
the motor vehicle immediately before the destruction was at least the then
market value threshold amount as defined in RCW 46.12.005.
